How to transfer all data from Xiaomi phone to a new smartphone: the full guide

Why does standard data porting to Xiaomi often work incorrectly?

You bought a new Xiaomi Redmi Note 13 Pro+ or POCO F6, but are afraid of losing precious photos, chats in Telegram or save in games when transferring?The problem is that even the official Mi Mover feature (built into MIUI) does not always copy all the data - often "forgets" passwords from Wi-Fi, application settings or files in hidden folders. And if you have a model with a Snapdragon chip and a new phone on MediaTek (or vice versa), the risk of errors when transferring through the cable increases by 3 times.

In this article, we have proven ways to transfer 100% of data (including what is usually lost), taking into account the features of MIUI 14/15 and the new Xiaomi models of 2026.

• 🔄 How to Transfer Data Without Loss (Even if Phones Are on Different Versions) MIUI)
• 📱 Why Mi Mover doesn’t see a new phone and how to fix it
• ☁️ Mi Cloud’s Hidden Limits (and How to Get Around Them)
• ⚡ What to do if the transfer is interrupted by 99% and the phone is frozen

Spoiler: The most reliable method is a combination of local backup + manually transfer critical data (chats, passwords) but everything in order.

Method 1: Mi Mover – Official Cable Transfer (with nuances)

Mi Mover is built into MIUI and should work out of the box, but in practice, users have encountered errors like "Disconnected" or "Data not detected" because of incompatibility between MIUI versions or USB drivers.

Step-by-step:

1. On your old phone: Settings → About Phone → Data Transfer (Mi Mover) → Select “I’m an old phone”.
2. On a new phone: same path, but select "I am the new phone."
3. Connect your phones with a USB-C-USB-C cable (or an adapter if the ports are different). Use the original cable, which is cheap and often doesn't transmit data.
4. It'll appear on the new phone. QR-Scan it with an old phone.
5. Select data for transfer (contacts, messages, photos, etc.) and confirm.

Which is usually not tolerated:

• 🔐 Wi-Fi passwords (solution: use Settings) → Passwords and security → Wi-Fi Passwords for Export)
• 🎮 Game Savings (solution: link games to Google Play or Mi Account)
• 📁 Files in.nomedia or.thumbnails folders (solution: manually copy via PC)

Charge both phones at least to the minimum. 50%|Use the original. USB-cable|Update. MIUI last-minute|Turn it off. VPN/proxy on both devices|Check the space available on your new phone (you need to use it) 1.5 times the weight of the data)

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⚠️ Warning: If the transfer is over 10 minutes into Prep, don't turn off the cable. Try pressing Back on your new phone and start the process again. If it doesn't work, restart both devices and try again.

Method 2: Mi Cloud – Cloud Transfer with Constraints

Mi Cloud is a convenient way, but it has strict limits:

• 📸 Photos and videos: free only 5 GB (even if you have Xiaomi 14 Ultra with 1 TB of memory).
• 📱 Contacts, Notes, Calendars: Portable but not synced with Google.
• 🔄 Applications: only lists of them are transferred, but not data inside (for example, saving games).

How to transfer data through Mi Cloud:

1. On your old phone: Settings → Xiaomi Account → Mi Cloud → Sync → Turn on all the switches.
2. Wait until the sync is complete (it can take hours if there are many photos).
3. On the new phone, log in to the same Mi Account and enable synchronization.
4. The data will be downloaded automatically (photos will appear in the Mi Cloud gallery).

💡

Before transferring to Mi Cloud, check if your photos are linked to Google Photos. If so, turn off autoload to Settings → Google → Backup, otherwise the photos will be duplicated.

Method 3: Google Account – Universal but Incomplete Transfer

If you've used Google services (Gmail, Contacts, Calendar, Photos), most of the data is already backed up automatically.

• 📇 Contacts will only be transferred if they are saved to your Google Account, not to your phone’s memory.
• 📅 Calendars and notes synced, but Mi Notes does not support exports to Google Keep.
• 📸 Photos in Google Photos are compressed to 16 MP if you have a free rate.

How to check what is already reserved:

1. Open Settings → Google → Backup.
2. Check if backup is enabled for: Application Data Contacts (not all apps support) Device Settings Call Log (wallpaper, brightness, etc.)

"Create a backup now"

On the new phone, when you first turn on, the system will prompt you to restore data from your Google Account. If you have already set up your phone, go to Settings → Google → Backup → Restore.

⚠️ Note: If you have used dual applications (functions) MIUI For cloning messengers, their data is not backed up by Google. Save it manually through Settings → Annexes → Dual annexes → Backup.

Method 4: Local backup is the most reliable but long-lasting method

This is a good way to do it if you have a lot of data (50+GB) or are afraid of losing something important. MIUI allows you to create a full backup of your phone to a memory card or PC and then restore it to a new device.

Instructions for creating a backup:

1. Insert a memory card (minimum class 10, preferably UHS-I) or connect the phone to the PC via USB.
2. Go to Settings → About Phone → Backup and Reset → Local Backup.
3. Select "Create a backup" and mark all the necessary data (system settings, applications, multimedia).
4. Specify the location of the storage (memory card or internal memory).
5. Wait until it is completed (may take 1-3 hours).

How to restore on a new phone:

1. Copy the MIUI/backup/AllBackup folder to the new phone (in the same directory).
2. Go to Settings → About Phone → Backup and Reset → Local Backup.
3. Select the backup file (it will be named by date, for example) backup_20260515_123456).
4. Confirm the recovery and wait for completion.

Step-by-step:

1. Connect your old phone to your PC and allow file transfers ("File Transfer" or MTP).
2. Copy the right folders: DCIM — Photos and videos. Downloads - downloads. Android/data — Application data (but not all folders will be available without root). MIUI/sound_recorder — voice recordings.

contact

.vcf

Contacts → ⋮ → Contact management → Import/Export → Export to file

Connect a new phone and paste the copied files into the same folders.

💡

If you need to move save games, use Helium (backup app) or link games to your Google Play/Game Center account. Most modern games (like Genshin Impact or PUBG Mobile) keep progress in the cloud.

Frequent mistakes and how to fix them

Even when following instructions, users face problems.-5 mistakes and their solutions:

If none of these methods worked, try alternative tools:

• 📱 Clone Phone (application from Xiaomi for data transfer between Android devices).
• 🖥️ Syncios Mobile Transfer (PC software supports portability even between iOS and Android).
• ☁️ Send Anywhere (Send File Over Wi-Fi with No Size Limits).

FAQ: Answers to Frequent Questions